Tide-motor.



F. n. TAYLOR.

TIDE MOTOR. I APPLICATION FILED APR. 4. 1912.

Y Patented Dec.17,1912.

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[immm mmas 15 momybrs P. DQTAYLOR.

TIDE MOTOR. APPLICATION rum) APB..4. 1912.

Patented Dec. 17, 1912. j

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-1 1 u I HMN I INVENTOR fi'ederz'cwjaz l or By I Y ATTORNEYS 1 WIT/(E8858 F. D. TAYLOR.

TIDE MOTOR. APiLIOATION FILED APR. 4. 1912.

"Pate nted Deg 17', 1912.

WITNESSES P. 1). TAYLOR;

TIDE MOTOR. APPLIOATIOK FILE RAPE. 4, 191 2.

Patented Dec. 17, 1912.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

, INVEIIfOR fiderzck 2 222 710) P. D. TAYLOR.

TIDE MOTOR. APPLICATION FILED APR. 4, 1912.

Patented Dec. .17, 1912.

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- IIIVEAITOR Wadi-rick @207 BY WITNESSES Iv v Arm/Mrs UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

I ,rimnunrcx DOUGLAS 'rAYLon, or rnovrnu vcn, RHODE 13mm I e To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK D. TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Providence, in the county of Providence and. State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and Improved Tide-Motor of which the following is a full, -clear, and'eXact description.

This invent-ion relates to hydraulic motors and particularly to power devices of this type which are adapted to utilize the force of both'th'e'ebb and fiow=of the tide, the particular object of the invention being to so improve this class of devices as to produce one which will be thoroughly reliable under all of the variable conditions of the source of power. This and other objects are, attained in a preferred embodiment by'me'ans hereinafter fully described and claimed-and illustrated in the accom'- panying drawings, where on the said figures corresponding parts are referred to by similar reference characters, and in which- Figure'l a plan view, partly in section and partly broken away, of this invention;

Fig.2 -.is. a vertical transverse section substantially on the line 22 ofFig. 3; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation, partly in section, substantially 'on the line 3'"3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is 'aside elevation in detail of a part of the stationary abutment and gates cotiperating therewith; Fig. 5 is a detail of the means for operating said gates; B 1g. 6 1s height preferably 'slightly belowthe water line at low tide and of'any length desired, depending upon the location and the amount of power to be developed, saidabutment preferably extending entirely across the mouth I of the cha-nnel at such. location.

Associated with said abutment 10 is a structure 11 comprising a floating body 12 includingfra-memembers 13 and14 extend.- ing laterally therefrom The float 12 may comprise any desired number of compartments adapted 'to boloaded with water or 5 other weights so asto bring the top of the float downf toward the surface of the water,

i I i Specification of Y QTOBQ as for instance so-that the frame members 13'1nay substantially coincide with said surface. I have indicated, at 15, valves whereby the water may be introduced into the compartments. The upper portion of the I H Patented l ec. 17, 1912.

Application filed April 4, 1912. Serial Nb. 688,448.

abutment 10 may be provided with openings 10 for the purpose of admitting certain of the floatframe members, and with metal strips 10 On each side of the float 12 is provided'a dam l6 securely connected to 'the frame members 13 and 14:, whereby the dams 16 will be subjected 'tothe buoyant action of" the float 12. of said dams will be on the outsideof the structure and the other on the inside or It will beunderstood that one" i toward the land. The upper edge of each dam is" designed to project slightly above- I am to be understood as not wishing to be limited in this respect to any particular dimensions. -There will also be built upon and carried by the float frame a suitable superstructure or housing 17 within which the operating parts of the motor will be housed, and they, with the operators, willbe protected from the-severe weather. Each dam may have anti-friction rollers 16. hear; ing upon strips 10".

The abutmentIO is preferably made as shown iii-Figs. 2 and i, and-is provided witha central longitudinal chamber 18-and a series of-passageways 19 communicating with said chamber from-both sides of the abutment. Said passageways 19 are designed to be closed by movable gates20 arranged substantially water-tight and adapted to be op- I erated from Within the housing by any suitable means. As indicated, these gates are arranged vertically and are adapted to slide transversely of the respective passageways along the walls of the abutment 10 by means of racks 21 and pinions 22 connected to upright shafts 23. These shafts extend ups .wardly through quills 24 carried by the float.

12 and are shownas "each being provided with a groove or keyway 23 into which a key or feather 25 carried by a hand wheel 26 extends. rotarily upon the upper end of the adjacent The hand wheel issupported quill 24 and since the float is subjected toj variations in'tide levelthe structure'above described will provide that the shafts 23- maybe held in the abutment structure from vertical movement, and the handwheels which, when opened, will permit the water to enter the housing and flow within the chamber 18 of the abutment. Each of said openings 27 is preferably guarded by a grating or network 29 to prevent floating obstacles from entering and damaging the inte-.'

rior mechanism.

The operation of the device thus far described is substantially as follows: Assuming that the right hand portion of Fig. 2 is .the side toward the sea and the tide is flowing, the water will enter the housing as indicated by the arrows and will flow from the chamber 18 outwarditoward the left through the open passageways 19,the passageways on the outside being closed at such time by the gates 20. Assuming that the tide is rising there will be a period of an hour or two in which the water will be rising toward the top of the dam 16, and the gates 20 and the dam on the sea-side of the structure at such time will prevent the level of the water on the inside from rising with the tide until after such rise is reached as will cause the water to flow over the dam and into and through the chamber 18 as above set forth.

The force of the water flowing into the housing may be utilized by any suitable mechanism, that herein shown comprising one or more undershot water-wheels 30 ar- .ranged directly in front of the aforesaid openings 27. The water flowing over the dam will be received by paddles or buckets 31 and will cause the water-wheels to rotate powerfully'in the direction indicated by the arrows. Such power from the water-wheels may beutilized in any convenient way and 'niore dynamos 38 from which the generated power may be conveyed to any desired distance. I

The water-wheels 30 are connected to a main power shaft 39 journaled in the bearings on the'float framework and whose ends extend into fixed inclosures 10, preferably 'at each end of the abutment 10. Each of the inclosures 40 contains an auxiliary float 41 within the water-tight compartments 42 of which there is provided working space for large power pulleys 43 from which other dynamos 44 may be operated by direct belt connections 15. The float 41 may have as many valves 46 as may be necessary to admit the water or other ballast so as to insure equalization of buoyancy between the main float 12 and the auxiliary floats &1.

After as much. inflow of the tide as possible can be utilized in the manner above suggested, the gates 20 on the outside of the abutment 10 will be opened, and after the level of the water is equalized on both sides, all of the gates and doors on the inside or landside of the structure will be closed,

maintaining the high level of water on the landside of the device until the ebbing tide will permit the housing and floats to sink low enough so as to make the fall of water over the dam on the landside available for operation of the water-wheels on that side of the motor. The operation from this point will be a duplication of that previously described during the flow of the tide. While there is an interval of an hour or two during each reversalof the tide when this device will not be operative,'it is to be understood that since the time of tide at one place is several hours different from that of another place not many hundred miles dismodern method, although it isto be understood that any suitable materialsmay be employed for this purpose or' in the construction of any-of the other parts of this device. Furthermore, I desire not to be limited to the specific details of construction illustrated except as may be required by the state of the art. I

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire-to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The herein described tide motor comprising a fixed abutment below normal low tide level and having a longitudinal central chamber and lateral passage-ways co1nmunicating therefrom to both sides of the abutment, sets of gates adapted to close said passage-ways, a floating structure comprising a pair of dams on the opposite sides of said abutment, means to control the flow of water over either of said dams into the chamber .aforesaid and thence outwardly through the passageways on the opposite side, and power devices carried by the floating structure to utilize the force of the water flowing into said chamber.

2. The herein described tide motor comprising a main fixed abutment, one or more auxiliary abutments at the ends of the first abutment, a series of floats within the aforeiso supported by saidfloats and means cooperating therewith to control the flow of water at intervals over said dams, a power shaft adjacent the upper edge of each of said dams and journaled upon all of said floats, means carried by the floats to utilize the power derived from the water, and means connecting. said power shafts with said power utilizing means. A

3. The herein described tide motor comprising a fixed abutment having a series of passageways therethro-ugh, gates adapted to control the passage of water throughsaid passageways, a float associated with said abutment, a series of shafts for operating said gates and fixed from vertical movementand extending upwardly through said float, and means carried at-a uniform elevation on sald float for operating sald gate controlling shafts during all changes in elevation chamber and passageways leading outwardly therefrom, means to control the pas sage of water through said passageways, a floating structure embracing said abutment, a pair of dams carried by said float structure and maintained thereby at a certain definite'relation to said abutment to control the flow of Water over the same and into said chamber, said structure including a series of openings adjacent the upper edges of said dams, means to control the passage of water through said openings, water power devices carried upon said floating structure and adapted to utilize the force of the flowing water aforesaid, and high speed power means to utilize the force of said water power devices.

In testimony whereof I have signed. my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

rarnrarcr DOUGLAS TAYLOR.v

Witnesses:

ALBERT R. TAYLOR, FREDERICK C. TAYLOR. 

